<p>My biggest regret is not spending more in college/medical school- I scrimped on book buying, I should have borrowed in college and more in medical school instead of foregoing so many simple things. There is plenty of money NOW, but it can’t be spent in the past. I may have chosen a slightly different major, doctoral degree if I hadn’t been as focused on economic security. I do not regret the medical education and when I analyze things I remember why I chose it instead of more research as a grad student.</p>
<p>You seem to like your major- you should finish it then take the time to travel. It would be very hard to jump back into the school work in engineering once you have been away from the daily routines. You can brush up on skills once learned after taking time off after your bachelors much more easily. The only reason to quit school now is if you think your field is wrong for you and you need time away from it to decide which direction to go. It may be easier to be 21 and be able to partake in everything socially while working (think going to the local bar with coworkers), and if you already have 3 years done it will be easiest to finish school before taking time off. Any college degree opens doors- you could possibly find something nonengineering on your travels that would be fun for awhile but where that piece of paper matters.</p>
<p>My S spent his last semester in college in Thailand. So tuition/room/board were picked up by his father and myself. My S paid for his traveling expenses from $$ he had saved. He was based in Bangkok, but spent most weekends traveling around the country and to Laos and Cambodia. </p>
<p>He chose Thailand in part because it was an affordable destination.</p>
<p>I had an opportunity to work in Saudi Arabia in the 1980s - when I was footloose and fancy free! I regret not doing that just for the experience. Believe it or not, I also regret not serving in the military.</p>
<p>I regret not staying single till I was fully grown up. I married at age 20, far too young, and my first H had red flags sticking out all over him. That’s the biggest mistake of my life, although I do have a wonderful daughter from that marriage.</p>
<p>I also regret not traveling when I was younger. I had no money for travel at all. I finally got to Europe when I was 30, and that has been my only trip there. I also regret not traveling there more in recent years, but my H choses where we go. I hope to return to Paris for my 60th birthday. I have never been to England and would love to go there too.</p>
<p>I regret racing through college. I finished undergrad in four years and then went straight on to grad school, graduating with my master’s at age 23. I then went straight in to my professional career. What was the rush? I should have spread that out and done the student travel thing back then.</p>
<p>I regret racing through undergrad also. Instead of graduating in 3 years, I regret that I didn’t spend that 4th year taking more fun classes in the humanities/social science area. I needed more cultural enrichment before going out into the world. But I was looking forward to making my own money, so off I went.</p>
<p>As an undergrad, my organic chem professor asked if I wanted to work in his lab. Well, I already had a long term job as a cashier in a grocery store, so I didn’t take that job [sounds dumb to me now]. But I wonder now whether taking that job would have put my life on a different path–graduate school, professor someday? Who knows…</p>
<p>"As parents what would you say to your son/daughter if after you just paid a large amount of money for them to get a degree, they said they weren’t going to use it right away and wanted to go on an extended adventure/soul searching/… for a couple years? "</p>
<p>It’s your dime, now. You can do anything you want. Just try to keep it legal, and know you will always be welcome home lovingly…but temporarily.</p>
<p>Very few real regrets here, because if I had done anything majorly differently then things would be different now, and I honestly wouldn’t want that. So… let’s see, sorry I gave up the clarinet. And it would have been nice to have a 3rd child, but that was not entirely my call (LOL).</p>
<p>You would likely regret not getting your degree. You won’t regret taking a year off after graduation to travel/explore. Maybe the Peace Corps? If you never went back to graduate school you might regret that later in life. Settling down, getting married, having kids can be delayed *** up to a point *** but if you wait too long that could become a very big regret. </p>
<p>My younger son wanted to bicycle across country last summer, and I strongly discouraged him and convinced him a better option was to take a 1 week bike trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway (with me!!! ), so if he wanted to bike X country after graduation I would just have to … hoooo… suck it up and tell him to have a good time.</p>
<p>I regret not traveling as much, so I encourage my college age son to travel as much as possible. However, I don’t think you have to choose college or travel. As a college student there are many opportunities for travel through study abroad, summers, volunteer abroad or work abroad. During summers and holidays it’s easy to plan travel. When I was in college these types of programs were not popular like they are today, hence I feel as though I missed out. Oh well, did plenty of traveling later on in life, but it’s still not the same as when you are a 20 something.</p>
<p>I regret not taking time tot travel before grad school. Not a big deal in my case as I made up for it later. I encourage you to take that time and travel. As an employer, someone who has seen the world and can relate to people all over it is a huge plus.</p>
<p>My oldest backpacked across several continents between college and grad school and I will be surprised if my younger two don’t do something similar. Youngest is at a school that can accommodate multiple study abroad programs and he left for his first yesterday.</p>
<p>I regret having chosen the prestigious grad school opportunity over the opportunity that fit me better. I even remember walking across the campus at which I’d enroll during the accepted students’ weekend, thinking to myself, “This is the best thing I can do for my career path… but I won’t be happy here.” I won’t choose prestige over happiness again.</p>
<p>I regret not realizing that if I could get into all of those programs, that if I was truly as capable of success as all of those programs’ acceptance letters and my diplomas and my accolades told me I was, that running the “typical course” that everyone’s careers always take would be the least of what I was capable of. I just had to believe in myself, and I could do more-- I could do my own thing. </p>
<p>The people who chart their own courses are the ones who are, more importantly than capable enough, brave enough to try.</p>
<p>Woody—like the song says …je ne regrette RIEN! Regret for things you’ve done or haven’t done.When I felt regret creeping into my thoughts two years ago, I went back to school for a new career. I’m not big on any kind of regret. Perhaps that is why I have had several different careers.</p>
<p>I was hoping that was true. When I tell some of my friends I want to spend time traveling abroad one of the most common responses from them is that an employer would look down on it and ask me why I just wasted a year. From my point of view I think it would be a good learning experience, I would learn to relate to people from all different backgrounds, I would be truely on my own which I think would help me mature (hopefully not TOO much though) and I would have some amazing experiences that I would be able to always look back on.</p>
<p>I think next summer my family may be going to Greece, so if we do end up going I think I will either go a few weeks early and explore a few other countries and then meet up, or stay for a few weeks afterwards and do the same.</p>
<p>musica - That’s not how I see it. I can’t quite imagine Edith Piaf not regretting that she, oh, let’s say taught music to children in the afternoons instead singing her heart out in Parisian nightclubs. It seems to me to be a rather, “Oh yeah, I may been down but at least, I LIVED” kind of sentiment. The song is a bit more passionate than NOT regretting a quiet life.
You yourself have done things instead of maintaining the status quo. I think that is what the OP is concerned about…</p>
<p>DonnaL - I know <em>so</em> many people who regret law school. The old saying “be careful what you wish for” seems to ring true.</p>
<p>I regret that I spent TOO much time with the ol’ books as an undergrad and missed out on knowing some really cool people and taking advantage of all the city had to offer.
I regret that I didn’t live on my own for a year or two before getting married - I went from parents’ house to getting married and in hindsight that was a bad idea.
I regret not taking the kids on more vacations and having them see the world.</p>
<p>I regret not getting a teaching certificate. I would have only had to take two classes back then and instead of the internship I did do, would have done a teaching internship. I’ve regretted that for years. Coming from a family of teachers they encouraged it and like most young people if my parents said go right I went left. I started teaching CC kids as an adjunct about 5 years out of grad school and love teaching but like the younger kids best. I looked into what it would take now and I would need almost 2.5 years of college to get one in today’s world.</p>
<p>I regret not teaching my slacker son that:
“work before play” makes both sweeter.</p>
<p>Just DO the APPS, pleeeeeeease. Then missing homework. AFTER that read the blasted comics. </p>
<p>I regret not buying a condo when I first got a job (in '70s).</p>
<p>I sort of regret not taking the assignment to go live and work in Germany for a year . Only sort of, because I am pretty darn happy with the way my life went since then.</p>
<p>To the OP, thanks for time for introspection. If you were asking for advice, mine would be to finish your school, THEN take the break and long travels, THEN go work. But that is just me, work before play. …</p>
<p>Not wishing to distract from all this fascinating soul-searching, I am interested in knowing if it is easier to find a job in a specific major immediately after graduating, rather than after a one or two-year “gap” period. If so, might it not be more practical for OP to take that hiatus from school to get it out of his system, and go back to finish so that his degree would be fresh when he job-seeking?</p>
), so if he wanted to bike X country after graduation I would just have to … hoooo… suck it up and tell him to have a good time.</p>